CCF funding

CCF funding is a subsection of the main SourceWatch article Center for Consumer Freedom.

CCF funding
The Center for Consumer Freedom (CCF) is registered as tax-exempt nonprofit organization and is required to disclose some financial information to the Internal Revenue Service which is publicly available by inspecting their IRS Form 990s. Like Berman's other front groups, it does not disclose the identity of its funders, but some information about it has become publicly available thanks to the 1998 attorney generals' settlement with the tobacco industry, which required tobacco companies to release millions of pages of previously secret company documents.

CCF claims to represent "more than 30,000 U.S. restaurants and tavern operators." However, the IRS Form 990 which it filed for the the six-month period from July to December 1999 (under the name of "Guest Choice Network") shows that almost all of its financial support came from a handful of anonymous sources. Its total income for that period was $111,642, of which $105,000 came from six unnamed donors. It received no income from membership dues. Some of its funding apparently came from one of Berman's other organizations, the American Beverage Institute, which "contributes monthly amounts to the Guest Choice Network to assist with media expenses." The Guest Choice Network did not report paying salaries to any of its employees, who were presumably paid by Berman & Co. CCF's Form 990 for the year 2000 showed total income of $514,321, almost all of which ($492,500) came from seven unnamed donors. Once again, it received no income from membership dues and did not report paying salaries to any employees. However, it did list $256,077 in compensation paid to Berman and Co., Inc., for "management services."

In 2004, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) filed a complaint with the IRS alleging that CCF violated its nonprofit, tax-exempt status. IRS law prohibits private individuals from benefiting from nonprofit organizations, but CREW alleges that Rick Berman and his for-profit lobbying and public relations firm have received nearly $2 million from CCF and its predecessor organization since 1999. Tax-exempt organizations must have a charitable purpose, but CREW notes that CCF lobbies exclusively on behalf of food producers and the restaurant and tobacco industries.

2005 finances
CCF's Form 990 for the year 2005 listed total revenue of $3.67 million. Of its expenditure of $3.82 million in 2005, $2.19 million was for a series of major advertisements, $856,699 was for running a series of websites and  distributring a daily emnail newsletter to "approximately 30,000 subscribers" and a further $214,000 on maintaining a "database of foundations grants and funding sources of organizations dealing with food and beverage issues."

Of the group's $3.82 million of expenditure in 2005, $1.62 million was paid as compensation to Berman & Co., representating approximately 42% of the group's total expenditure.

CCF contributions table
The Center for Media and Democracy obtained the following information on corporate contributions to the Guest Choice Network/CCF through documents obtained from a whistle blower.

CCF contributions table
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